Croatia

As I was talking about in the Bosnia post, the bus ride to Dubrovnik was amazing. The highway runs along the Adriatic for the length of the coast. There is a small area of Bosnian coastal area so we actually went to Croatia, back to Bosnia, then to Croatia again to get to Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is this really famous city that Europeans have travelled to for centuries. George Bernard Shaw loved the place. The city center is kind of like Venice with a fortified old town that is pedestrian only with tiny little streets and buildings. It sits right on the water and you can take a tour of the walls all the way around the city.

Mary, Martha, Kenric, and I got into town about 10 am. We were going to catch the 3:30 bus to Montenegro where we were staying that night. We were set to meet up with Meredith and Maia in Dubrovnik who had stayed the night. Laura, Andrew, and Sarah were nice enough to head on to Kotor early and arrange accomodations so the rest of us wouldn't have to when we arrived. We had to walk about 45 minutes from the bus station to find the old town, but as you can see form the picture above, the view was worth it. The first thing we did was take a tour of the walls and enjoyed the view of the Sea. Then we sat down and had a picnic at this little place with no one around. Then Mary and I decided we had to go swimming in the Adriatic no matter how cold it was. We found some rocks with a ladder attached, and jumped right in. I had been planning on this since I woke up in Mostar, so I had shorts underneath. The water felt so good and was strikingly clear. It was like 75 degrees outside so it was perfect for swimming even if the water was frigid. Kenric the life guard refused to get in citing the cold water.

After our little swim we toured a bit more of Dubrovnik and then headed back to the bus station which took about 10 minutes by pulic bus. Dubrovnik is an amazing town and so many study abraod students visit it, but I'm so happy we spent just a few hours there. It was incredibly touristy and lacked the feel of an old town. During the separation of Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav army shelled the city even though it had no military value. This meant that the city had lots of rebuilt buildings - though rebuilt in the old style. We got to the station a little early so we played a little frisbee in the parking lot as we waited for the bus. To get to our destination: Kotor, Montenegro, we had to get a bus to the Montenegrin town of Herceg Novi, and then get another bus from there. The view again was amazing on the way down, though the road was completely gravel at points and this was the major route up and down the Adriatic Coast. We made the 3:30 bus succesffully which was probably the nicest bus of the trip. I had a blanket and a pillow and lots of leg room. Now off to Montenegro to describe the best part of the trip.